Mobile communication devices, such as smartphones, are often carrier-locked to wireless communication carriers. Many wireless communication carriers lock mobile communication devices to their cellular networks to prevent fraud. For example, an unlocked mobile communication device may be stolen and resold for use with a new subscriber identification module (SIM) card at minimal risk of detection. In another example, a malicious user may use a false identity to purchase a mobile communication device at a carrier subsidized price, in which the carrier subsidized price is provide in exchange for a termed service contract. The malicious user may subsequently fail to activate the mobile communication device with the wireless communication carrier. Instead, the malicious user may sell the mobile communication device to a third-party buyer for a profit. Since a wireless communication carrier relies on the termed service contract to recoup the initial subsidy provided to the malicious user, such fraudulent activity may cause the wireless communication carrier to suffer a loss.
However, wireless communication carriers may carrier unlock mobile communication devices for eligible customers upon request. For example, a wireless communication carrier may unlock a mobile communication device after a customer has completed the termed service contract. In order to distinguish between carrier unlock requests of eligible customers and non-eligible customers, wireless communication carriers may use customer service representatives as gatekeepers. Upon receive a carrier unlock request from a customer for a mobile communication device, a customer service representative may initiate a review to ascertain whether the customer is eligible to have the mobile communication device unlocked. Following successful verification, the customer service representative may subsequently provide a unlock code to the customer for unlocking the mobile communication device. The customer then enters the unlock code into the mobile communication device at the appropriate user input interface to unlock the device. In some instances, the verification of eligibility by a customer service representative for a carrier unlock may take as long as three days.
The duration of such unlock eligibility verification may result in poor customer experience. Further, such unlock eligibility verification may be overly burdensome when the customer is requesting a partial unlock of a mobile communication device, such as unlocking the wireless communication for use with a foreign mobile carrier while traveling aboard. Additionally, since mobile communication devices of a particular manufacturer and model may share a common unlock code, a malicious user may use a unlock code to unlock other mobile communication devices that are otherwise ineligible to be unlocked.